Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. plans to introduce its first motorcycles in India within the next few months as it challenges Hero Honda Motors Ltd. in the world's second-biggest two-wheeler market.
The company intends to add motorbikes ranging from low-cost entry models to premium products, Anoop Mathur, the head of Mahindra's two-wheeler business, said in an interview at the company's Mumbai headquarters yesterday. He declined to elaborate further on the product plan.
The two-wheeler unit aims to break even next fiscal year and to become as large as Mahindra's tractor and sport-utility vehicle businesses within seven years, Mathur said. India's largest maker of tractors and SUVs began making scooters in 2008 after buying Kinetic Motor Co. to boost sales in a country where two-wheelers outsell cars about than five-to-one.
"It will be very difficult to break into this market as the existing players are so dominant," said Vaishali Jajoo, a Mumbai-based Angel Broking Ltd. analyst. "Mahindra will have to leverage their brand if they want to establish themselves in the two-wheeler space."
Hero Honda, part-owned by Honda Motor Co., and Bajaj Auto Ltd. together control about two-thirds of India's motorcycle market, the world's biggest after China.
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